Vigil..

 

A group of junior staffers in the Biden administration last week chose to hold a public vigil in front of the White House, protesting the administration’s approach to the Gaza war. Standing behind a sign reading “PRESIDENT BIDEN: YOUR STAFF DEMANDS A CEASEFIRE,” a spokesman read remarks demanding a “permanent cease-fire” and “an immediate de-escalation now.”

We respect the Constitutional right of these individuals and indeed all Americans to express their views. But  .....................

Increasingly recognizing the dangers of ideological monocultures, the White House and U.S. government departments and agencies have developed formal channels for internal dissent. These processes were strengthened significantly in the State Department in 1971, to accommodate very valid objections to the conduct of the Vietnam war. The expectation of these established procedures is that once views have been aired and considered, employees are expected to support whatever the president decides.  

Humanitarian..

 

The United States government’s credibility on democracy and the rule of law has always been shaky. By supporting Israel’s war crimes and the ongoing illegal settlements and the theft of Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank, U.S. credibility has dissolved completely. 

Yes, war crimes. Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have detailed war crimes, from the use of white phosphorous to the bombing of schools and hospitals. AI and HRW, along with the Israeli human-rights organization B’Tselem, had already documented Israel’s crimes of apartheid. 

Israel has murdered over 100 members of the United Nations staff in Gaza. And we are to believe the Israeli ambassador to the UN, who says that those staff members, too, are Hamas? Absurd and criminal. 

Bret Gustafson | Professor of Anthropology November 16, 2023

Border..

 

Blinded..

 

The war in the Gaza Strip is generating destruction comparable in scale to the most devastating urban warfare in the modern record.

By mid-December, Israel had dropped 29,000 bombs, munitions and shells on the strip. Nearly 70% of Gaza’s 439,000 homes and about half of its buildings have been damaged or destroyed. The bombing has damaged Byzantine churches and ancient mosques, factories and apartment buildings, shopping malls and luxury hotels, theaters and schools. Much of the water, electrical, communications and healthcare infrastructure that made Gaza function is beyond repair.

Most of the strip’s 36 hospitals are shut down, and only eight are accepting patients. Citrus trees, olive groves and greenhouses have been obliterated. More than two-thirds of its schools are damaged.

President Biden, all of sudden, is unable to see the destruction of schools, Hospitals, Places of worship and killing of innocent civilians, women, elderly and children. 

Plants..

 

Hammer..

 

Struggle..

 

Senator Susan Collins is developing legislation to compel the U.S. military to follow state-level red and yellow flag laws for service members.

The proposed law is a response to the 2023 attacks in Lewiston, Maine, carried out by a U.S. Army Reserve member.

The bill aims to ensure that military branches use state-level weapons restriction laws when they believe a service member poses a threat to themselves or others.
The legislation is intended to address instances where existing red and yellow flag laws were not utilized despite concerns about a service member’s behavior.

According to CNN, law enforcement was notified that the Maine shooter could “snap and commit a mass shooting” but they did not activate the yellow flag process.

We train ordinary young people, send them to the war we create time and time again, and upon return, they struggle with all these issues including suicidal tendency.  Just a thought.

Miss..

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), likened Israel's war against Hamas to the Holocaust on Wednesday and said that Israel will make you "miss Hitler."

On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. Israeli officials have said that 1,200 people in Israel were killed in Hamas' attack, according to the Associated Press, while more than 21,100 Palestinians have been killed, officials from the health ministry in Gaza said.

Erdogan compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to that of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's treatment of the Jews and other marginalized groups in the 1940s. The Nazi party and their collaborators killed about 6 million Jewish men, women and children, along with millions of non-Jewish people, during World War II.

Re-Routing..

 

President Xi Jinping’s to Vietnam, a rare 2023 trip outside his country, showcased how he isn’t standing idly by while Washington attempts to diminish China’s role in supply chains that end in American consumption. 

On the surface, US friend-shoring moves appear to be having an impact, with Chinese goods making up a diminishing share of American imports, direct investment in China on the wane and investment in other emerging markets soaring. 

A closer look also shows that Chinese exports to nations that are rising in the ranks of US import sources—like Mexico—are climbing. This suggests China is simply re-routing a chunk of its shipments. And back home, Xi’s government is doubling down on investing in high-value-added manufacturing to replace the lower-end production that’s shifting abroad. 

When Western capitals realize their friend-shoring project is being undermined, the risk is a new wave of protectionist backlash. Just a thought.

Isolation..

 

Israel’s edge over Hamas is so large, that any outcome other than victory is unthinkable. Nine weeks into bombardment and no end.

The question is in what timeframe and at what cost.

Hamas rallies a besieged population in Gaza around it in anger and helps collapse the Palestinian Authority government by ensuring Palestinians see it even more as a feckless adjunct to Israeli military authority. 

Meanwhile, Arab states move strongly away from normalization with Israel, the Global South aligns strongly with the Palestinian cause, Europe recoils at the Israeli army’s excessive indiscriminate bombardment, and massive human loses in Gaza, and an American debate erupts over Israel, destroying the bipartisan support Israel has enjoyed here since the early 1970s. 

Isolation from humanity is the real loss.

Show..

 

Around 61 migrants, including women and children, have drowned following a “tragic shipwreck” off the coast of Libya, said the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).

“The central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes,” the UN agency said in the post.

Earlier in 2011

Libya and the 2011 NATO intervention there have become synonymous with failure, disaster, and the Middle East being a “shit show” (President Obama’s colorful descriptor). It has perhaps never been more important to question this prevailing wisdom, because how we interpret Libya affects how we interpret Syria and, importantly, how we assess Obama’s foreign policy legacy. Just a thought.

Media..

 

The confirmed death toll in Gaza is now over 20,000 — nearly 1 percent of the entire population. Thousands more bodies are believed to be trapped under rubble. Hospitals, schools, ambulances, and refugee camps have been bombed.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues to furiously lobby Congress to give Israel another $14 billion in military aid — with absolutely zero restrictions on how those weapons are used.

Major U.S. news media outlets have continued to repeat the Biden administration’s preposterous claims that they are doing everything possible to reduce civilian deaths and some outlets are firing journalists or sanctioning them for speaking out about the crimes being committed against Gaza. At The Intercept, that is part of our job.

The Media are playing an unfair game at this point. Just a thought.

 

Data..

 

According to new data from the World Bank, trade between BRICS nations is headed to reach $500 billion in 2024. While the value falls much below the average global trade, BRICS’ numbers are slowly yet steadily rising. The alliance is creating a foundation that could later turn into full-fledged trade agreements strengthening their native economies.

Overall idea of BRICS is to eventually cut ties with the US dollar and make local currencies thrive. The larger the trade numbers rise between BRICS, the bigger the threat grows to the US dollar. BRICS members China and Russia are aggressive in their de-dollarization efforts and are taking every step to make it a reality.

While US is busy starting wars somewhere and everywhere, others are building their own world.   Just a thought.

Loss..

 

Who is winning the Israel/Gaza war? or to be more precise, how much is the  looss.

A further indication came a few days later, when three Israeli hostages succeeded in getting away from their captors, only to be killed by IDF soldiers, even though shirtless and carrying a white flag. What has since made that worse, and is causing considerable anger in Israel, is that calls from the hostages were picked up by an audio-equipped IDF search-dog five days before they were killed.

There are other, wider indications of the IDF’s problems. Official casualty figures have shown more than 460 military personnel killed in Gaza, Israel and the occupied West Bank and about 1,900 wounded. But other sources suggest far greater numbers of wounded.  Just a thought.

Hope..

 

Snatchers..

As Russia's war against Ukraine is set to soon enter its third year, Ukraine is getting desperate for more troops, so much so that military recruiters have confiscated people's passports and even tried to enlist a mentally disabled man, per a new report on recruiting efforts citing lawyers, activists, and other concerned civilians.

"There's lawlessness here," a 58-year-old Ukrainian taxi driver told The New York Times in a report published on Friday that details the forceful tactics Ukraine military recruiters have been reportedly taking to boost the Eastern European country's manpower in the bloody fight against Russia.

The taxi driver from the Ukrainian city of Kitsman told the Times that military recruiters seized his passport and only returned it to him days later after he showed up to a medical screening.
Local residents told the new outlet that recruiters from Kitsman have gotten a reputation as "people snatchers." 

When the people don't want war anymore while the politicians want it to continue by all means.

Help..

 

Re-build..

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote an op-ed Monday outlining three prerequisites for peace in the region: the destruction of Hamas, the demilitarization of Gaza and the beginning of a deradicalization process of Palestinian society.

In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Netanyahu said once those three requirements are met, “Gaza can be rebuilt and the prospects of a broader peace in the Middle East will become a reality.

On the other hand I think Israel should return the territories that been taken from the Palestinians, Re build Gaza to state of the art, and stop killing civilians to clear the land for a larger Jewish State on the expenses of the poor Palestinians.

Mask...

 

The risk of being exposed to Covid-19 indoors is as great at 60 feet as it is at 6 feet — even when wearing a mask.

MIT professors Martin Z. Bazant, who teaches chemical engineering and applied mathematics, and John W.M. Bush, who teaches applied mathematics, developed a method of calculating exposure risk to Covid-19 in an indoor setting that factors in a variety of issues that could affect transmission, including the amount of time spent inside, air filtration and circulation, immunization, variant strains, mask use, and even respiratory activity such as breathing, eating, speaking or singing.

“What our analysis continues to show is that many spaces that have been shut down in fact don’t need to be. Often times the space is large enough, the ventilation is good enough, the amount of time people spend together is such that those spaces can be safely operated even at full capacity and the scientific support for reduced capacity in those spaces is really not very good,” Bazant said. “I think if you run the numbers, even right now for many types of spaces you’d find that there is not a need for occupancy restrictions.”

Six-feet social distancing rules that inadvertently result in closed businesses and schools are “just not reasonable,” according to Bazant.

Quiz..

 

• Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv to call for the Israeli government to immediately bring back remaining hostages held in Gaza, after three Israeli hostages were mistakenly killed in the enclave Friday by the Israel Defense Forces.
• They were waving a white flag when they were shot, an IDF official said.
• One would ask, why were they shot if they were waving white flags? 
• Why did Israel stopped negotiation to release the rest of hostages in exchange of some Palestinians who are in Israel prison? and why resume bombing Gaza with Major civilian casualties?
•  What gains Netanyahu gets from this indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza?

Democracy..

 

Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) warned........ efforts to prevent former President Trump from getting on the ballot in his state could be a “political distraction.” 

Newsom said Friday in a statement. “But, in California, we defeat candidates at the polls.”

Gavin Newsom critized fellow Democrats for considering blocking former president Donald Trump from California's 2024 presidential primary ballot.

Is the Biden's team checking up ahead how to manipulate democracy by preventing people's option in 2024 elections.? 

Ambushed..

 

Recently there have been two incidents in Gaza . On 12 December, there was a skilful triple ambush staged by Hamas paramilitaries in a part of Gaza supposedly controlled by Israeli forces. 

An IDF unit was ambushed and took casualties.

Further troops were sent to aid that unit, and they were then ambushed, as were reinforcements.

Ten IDF soldiers were reported killed and other seriously wounded, but it was their seniority that counted, including as it did a colonel and three majors from the elite Golani Brigade. 

That Hamas, supposedly decimated and with thousands of troops already killed, could mount such an operation anywhere in Gaza, let alone a district reportedly already under IDF control, should raise doubts about the idea that Israel is making substantial progress in the war.

However, what is clear is the Gaza Civilian famine created by Israel on Gaza and the vast loss of lives of civilians as has been reported by variety of sources. [The Guardian]

Airbag..

 

Wisemen..

 

Fed..

 

Updated..

 

Dad..

 

Debate..

 
If you didn't vote for me you Aint Black.

If you vote fot someone else, we lose our Democracy..   Didnl explain.

Money..

 

Horrible..

 

This year, the USA is involved with the Ukraine, Borders of China, the Middle East, and then against the Hooties in Yeman.  Wsr, War, and War.

N0..

 

Anti..

 

For all the post-September 11 focus on Islamic anti-Americanism, the world's reaction has exposed the variety, complexity and ubiquity of antipathy towards the US. 

In Argentina, Hebe de Bonafini, an internationally known human rights activist, has said: "When the attack happened I felt happiness."

In France, the editor of Le Monde Diplomatique offered his summary of the world's reaction: "What's happening to [Americans] is too bad but they had it coming.

"Although few America-haters resort to terror, their simmering rage not only incubates violence; it also provides the moral support that can transform a crime against humanity into the opening salvo of a political, religious, cultural and economic struggle. 

Anti-Americanism's most frequent expressions usually reflect a mish-mash of grievances. But one can identify five types: politico-economic, historical, religious, cultural and psychological. 

Politico-economic anti-Americanism represents a reaction to current US foreign policies: support for Israel or for repressive governments in the Middle East; the US's role in the Balkans; its embargo on Iraq and Cuba; the lack of support for the Kyoto protocol on climate change or for the establishment of the international criminal court. US economic policies also draw fire, whether for limits on imports from poor countries or for the use of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to advance US interests.  (Carnegie 7/2001)      Just a thought.

Dumb..

 

Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza in its war with Hamas since October 7 have been unguided, otherwise known as “dumb bombs,” according to a new US intelligence assessment.

The assessment, compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, says that about 40-45% of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions Israel has used have been unguided. The rest have been precision-guided munitions, the assessment says.

Unguided munitions are typically less precise and can pose a greater threat to civilians, especially in such a densely populated area like Gaza. The rate at which Israel is using the dumb bombs may be contributing to the soaring civilian death toll.

Dumb ammunitions, was it intended?

Militancy..

 

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser is meeting with top Israeli officials.

The visit by Jake Sullivan comes as a public rift has opened between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza and differences in a future for Palestinians after the combat operations end.

Sullivan is also set to discuss efforts to release the eight American hostages who remain under Hamas control. (Exchange)

 Israel’s Minister of Defense, told Sullivan “ the war will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them (Hamas),”
Gallant also thanked Sullivan for US support of Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

Left..

This latest retaliation against the United Nations official comes two days after the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator issued a statement outlining the ways Israel has impeded access to aid  and ahead of an earlier warning.

Israel’s Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, announced today via X that he revoked Lynn Hastings’ visa, confirming the move the occupying country told the United Nations it would do last Friday after accusing Hastings of being biased.

Citing what Cohen called “UN bias,” Cohen further accused Hastings via X of failing to “condemn Hamas for the brutal massacre of 1,200 Israelis, for the kidnapping of babies and the elderly.”

Two days ago,  Hastings published a statement, in which she described the “hellish” scenario unfolding in Gaza.  According to Hastings, the resumption of Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip and Israeli forces expanding their operations into Southern Gaza have created a situation where “nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go.” 

Uptick..

 

Israel forged ahead with its air and ground offensive in Gaza for Eight Weeks, drawing international outrage and rare criticism from the United States over the killing of thousands of civilians.

On the other side of concern, US Government officials met American-Jewish leaders to discuss steps to counter what a White House official described as an alarming uptick in reported instances of antisemitism on university campuses.

Just a thought.

Me..